Italy's national airline Alitalia has already cancelled at least 100 domestic and international flights scheduled for today. British Airways has cancelled flights to and from Florence and Rome from London City Airport.

EasyJet said: "We expect that there will be delays and some disruption due to the industrial action, therefore we advise all customers to check the status of their flight on our flight tracker either on our mobile app or website: www.easyjet.com/en/flight-tracker

"Although this situation is outside of our control we would like to apologise to any affected passengers for the inconvenience caused."

Unions in Italy are planning further strikes later this month.

Meanwhile, passengers travelling to France are facing ongoing disruption due to a national strike that started yesterday evening. It is due to continue until 6.30am on Friday.

Some air traffic control staff are joining the strike action, which is likely to affect flights to and from France as well as those using French airspace. Public transport in France might also be affected so air and Eurostar passengers are being advised to allow extra time for their journey to the aiport or train station.